5 July 2001 Edition
RUC block compensation
A North Belfast family whose home and belongings were destroyed in a loyalist blast incendiary bomb attack in February are being blocked from receiving compesation by the RUC.
Joanne McNally had, under Criminal Damage legislation, applied for compensation after the attack on her Upper Meadow Street home, which she shared with her partner and four children.
However, in a letter to the family of six, RUC boss Ronnie Flanagan said, ``I must inform you that the Chief Constable is not of the opinion that any act was committed maliciously by a person acting on behalf of, or in connection with an unlawful association, within the meaning of the Criminal Damage (Compensation) ( Northern Ireland) Order 1997.''
The family are to appeal the RUC's refusal to certify the compensation claim and Joanne McNally says she wants answers as to why the RUC are refusing to allow the to apply for compensation.
The McNally family had a lucky escape in the loyalist attack on their Upper Meadow Street home last February. Joanne's partner Tony was watched television in the living room when loyalists smashed the living room window with a baseball bat and threw a blast incendiary bomb attached to a container of petrol into the room.
The bomb exploded and almost immediately engulfed the house in flames and had it not been for the quick thinking of neighbours the family would have been killed.
McNally said she that after the attack she had to start from scratch: ``My family were spread out between members of my family and we were waiting for four months to be rehoused. When we eventually got a house, I borrowed money to refurbish it in the belief that we would be receiving compensation, so to not get it is a big blow.''
Accusing the RUC of discrimination, Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly said ``it is an absolute disgrace that this family was burnt out of their home by loyalists and are now being treated in this way by the RUC. ``This family lost everything in the blaze and now the RUC is insinuating that they were in some way to blame.''
At the time of this attack, loyalists from the Tiger's Bay area, a UDA stronghold, were involved in a series of attacks against nationalists in the New Lodge Road.
Joanne McNally had, under Criminal Damage legislation, applied for compensation after the attack on her Upper Meadow Street home, which she shared with her partner and four children.
However, in a letter to the family of six, RUC boss Ronnie Flanagan said, ``I must inform you that the Chief Constable is not of the opinion that any act was committed maliciously by a person acting on behalf of, or in connection with an unlawful association, within the meaning of the Criminal Damage (Compensation) ( Northern Ireland) Order 1997.''
The family are to appeal the RUC's refusal to certify the compensation claim and Joanne McNally says she wants answers as to why the RUC are refusing to allow the to apply for compensation.
The McNally family had a lucky escape in the loyalist attack on their Upper Meadow Street home last February. Joanne's partner Tony was watched television in the living room when loyalists smashed the living room window with a baseball bat and threw a blast incendiary bomb attached to a container of petrol into the room.
The bomb exploded and almost immediately engulfed the house in flames and had it not been for the quick thinking of neighbours the family would have been killed.
McNally said she that after the attack she had to start from scratch: ``My family were spread out between members of my family and we were waiting for four months to be rehoused. When we eventually got a house, I borrowed money to refurbish it in the belief that we would be receiving compensation, so to not get it is a big blow.''
Accusing the RUC of discrimination, Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly said ``it is an absolute disgrace that this family was burnt out of their home by loyalists and are now being treated in this way by the RUC. ``This family lost everything in the blaze and now the RUC is insinuating that they were in some way to blame.''
At the time of this attack, loyalists from the Tiger's Bay area, a UDA stronghold, were involved in a series of attacks against nationalists in the New Lodge Road.